bestbooties:
mushroomman:
all you si boys will remember this guy fritzroy ewart gladstone crick the best welder money could buy, jeff loved him so much he sent him on an all expenses paid holiday to pakistan!!!
.Yes,but how many of us know what he was doing while he was there?
Didn’t Jeffery do a disappearing act shortly after when his best welder got his collar felt
biffo:
bestbooties:
mushroomman:
all you si boys will remember this guy fritzroy ewart gladstone crick the best welder money could buy, jeff loved him so much he sent him on an all expenses paid holiday to pakistan!!!
.Yes,but how many of us know what he was doing while he was there?
Didn’t Jeffery do a disappearing act shortly after when his best welder got his collar felt
I believe Jeff was pulled up on the M4 heading for Heathrow with a one way ticket to the States.
Now thats what you call a proper haulage yard mud scrap and half stripped motors where bits had been robbed off to fix something else. Not at all like the elf an safety mad logistic center’s we have to put up with now all high viz jackets and safety boots.
I must say I was overwhelmed with the response from my first posting…ahem! But I will not be deterred, I will continue! Ha! ha!
My first trip for Simons was a “quickie” to Istanbul which was fairly uneventful. My second trip was one to Baghdad. I recall Jim Hayley in the office giving me a separate envelope with instructions for it only to be opened when I got to Iraq. I realised why eventually as one had to pay transit tax in Turkey based on the weight of the load and the load was ‘heavy’. So the weights on the paperwork for the journey down to Iraq were completely ficticious.
I was told that Joe the Pole would be going down at the same time so he would show me the ropes. When I first set eyes on him I thought ‘bloomin heck, he looked like an old man with a bad limp’. But when he got behind the wheel he went like a bat out of hell! I managed to hang on until Austria when I lost him and the next time I saw him was when I was queueing at Zakho to enter Iraq and he pulled up besides me going the other way. He had been to Baghdad, tipped and was on his way back! I learned never to be fooled by first impressions!
I remember that the rate for a Baghdad was £1,000 (pay for your own diesel). You got £10 a ton for every ton over 20 ton. They gave me an extra £100 for this trip!!
I was told by others that I met on the way down that once you got to Mardin you had to turn left as the road straight on was a military road and not to go through Mardin and beyond on your own as the Kurds were known to fire at trucks. Gulp!
Before I got to Mardin my passenger door window got smashed by a stone from a catapault. The natives are friendly, I thought. I was tail end charlie with a bunch of Danish trucks as we convoyed up through the town of Mardin. What a steep hill that was. I think the first time I had had to use crawler gear to get up a hill with the weight I had on. Once through the town the police ■■■■■■ vanished and a few miles later on we got a military ■■■■■■. Being tailend charlie I copped a soldier in my cab. He threw his rifle in and after he got in, he slammed the door closed and got the rest of the glass from the shattered window all over him. He was not much pleased but a packet of Rothmans pacified him.
Having tipped in Baghdad I met up with another Brit by the name of George. He asked if my tryptics were OK for Syria. They were so he said that he was going back to Turkey across the desert via Syria to avoid the ‘kurd thing’ and why don’t I go with him. Which is what I did.
The first night we were parked up in the middle of nowhere in Syria. We were having a cuppa in his cab. It was as black as your hat outside when I could hear noises far off but getting nearer. We thought it could be bandits or whatever as when they got to the cab they had rifles in their hands! Anyway, turned out they were army. An officer was called for and he could speak perfect english(most probably trained at Sandhurst). He asked us what we were doing there. We replied that we were on our way back to Europe having unloaded in Baghdad. He said that we had to leave the area immediately as we were in the middle of a military exercise. I thought, they’re playing war games and we’re sat there drinking tea…very British, of course! Needless to say we got out of the area as fast as we could!
Here is a photo of me and one of George on this trip. Note the yellow tilt material I had rigged up over the passenger window to try to keep some of the dust out. Anyone know the name of the firm that George was driving for. I don’t recall but it looks like “R&R” on the door or is it “PR”■■
I would like to add that I never had to go up through Mardin again on trips to Baghdad. I was told that an earthquake had destroyed the mountain road and they were forced to allow trucks to use the military road which ran alongside the Syrian border. Thank goodness for nature!!
It would take more than an earthquake to demolish Mardin.
I was escorted over there several times on my first few trips until one time me and a mate along with two Belgians decided we’d try to go straight on at Kiziltepe crossroads.Big mistake.The road eventually disappeared into a bog for a couple of hundred yards after a few miles.
We checked out a detour off the main track and coupled together with ropes and straight bars we tried pulling and pushing each other round the obstacle.
Being the lightest loaded,I was the only one to get round.The two Belgians being well freighted were well stuck.My mate Bob Matthews being at the rear was able to turn round and go back.
I pushed on to Cizre where i parked up to kip,Bob went over Mardin in Convoy and reached me at 5 the next morning.We never saw the two Belgians again.
Only a few months later,that road was pushed right through and had truck stops every 5 miles.
Bogged down!
Dropping down from the Mardin diversion into Cizre.
On another early trip,on the way back we decided to go straight up that dirt road out of Cizre and continue North to Batman,then drop back down to Urfa.Better but not good,only did it the once.
I seem to remember the road over Mardin was like driving over a never ending cattle grid when empty on multileaf springs, glad when they closed it.
I know that Simon International became LITCOR . Combination of Jeffrey’s surname ‘Litwin’ and John Corringham who he linked up with. There was also ‘JEFFUN Holdings’. Where did that fit in? Was that after Litcor. What was the story there?
Also, I recall there was a tv programme named “The Duty Men”. It was a 6 part series about Customs & Excise but when they first showed it, they only showed 5 episodes. When it was re-run sometime later the 6th episode was aired. Apparently, they couldn’t show it the first time round as there was a court case pending.It was about a raid on Jeffrey’s yard to do with the bringing in of tobacco into the country. They had police dressed up as railway workers overlooking the yard. Remember that?
Talking about this reminds me of the time I got caught up in a previous raid in february 1981(talk about bad timing!).
After leaving Simons at the end of 1976, I lived in Sweden until my divorce in January 1981. On my return to England, I went to see Jeffrey about going back to work for him. He had moved to Mare Street by then. Jeffrey said that there was always a job for me and he was saying that Alvin Yule had just started back. He said it would be like the old days again and he appeared really happy. He said “We’re doing Pakistan now too”. I said that I’d be back in about 10 days after I’d got myself sorted out. Fine no probs!!
When I went back, I spoke to the transport manager who I didn’t know and he told me that Jeffrey wasn’t there at the moment so I said that I would come back later, after lunch.
You guys that worked for him then will remember that the door to the office was right onto the street. I knocked on the door and it was opened by a burly looking bloke who asked me what I wanted. Alarm bells went off in my head. Looked like plod to me. I said that I had come about a driving job. He asked if I knew the boss. I said no. He told me to come in and he then asked the transport manager if he had seen me before. He said that I had come here earlier and that I used to work for Jeffrey before. He dropped me right in it. “Tell porkies, do we?” the copper said. " Sit over in the corner there and we’ll get round to you later. The place was swarming with customs officers who were putting all the paperwork into plastic bags. They were backed up with several policemen.
They let me go eventually as I was able to prove that I had been living in Sweden for the past number of years. I phoned Alvin up afterwards and he was able to fill me in with what was going down.
Doing Pakistan, eh??
Never did see Jeffrey again. Is he still about? What’s he up to these days?
rondavies:
I know that Simon International became LITCOR . Combination of Jeffrey’s surname ‘Litwin’ and John Corringham who he linked up with. There was also ‘JEFFUN Holdings’. Where did that fit in? Was that after Litcor. What was the story there?Also, I recall there was a tv programme named “The Duty Men”. It was a 6 part series about Customs & Excise but when they first showed it, they only showed 5 episodes. When it was re-run sometime later the 6th episode was aired. Apparently, they couldn’t show it the first time round as there was a court case pending.It was about a raid on Jeffrey’s yard to do with the bringing in of tobacco into the country. They had police dressed up as railway workers overlooking the yard. Remember that?
Talking about this reminds me of the time I got caught up in a previous raid in february 1981(talk about bad timing!).
After leaving Simons at the end of 1976, I lived in Sweden until my divorce in January 1981. On my return to England, I went to see Jeffrey about going back to work for him. He had moved to Mare Street by then. Jeffrey said that there was always a job for me and he was saying that Alvin Yule had just started back. He said it would be like the old days again and he appeared really happy. He said “We’re doing Pakistan now too”. I said that I’d be back in about 10 days after I’d got myself sorted out. Fine no probs!!
When I went back, I spoke to the transport manager who I didn’t know and he told me that Jeffrey wasn’t there at the moment so I said that I would come back later, after lunch.
You guys that worked for him then will remember that the door to the office was right onto the street. I knocked on the door and it was opened by a burly looking bloke who asked me what I wanted. Alarm bells went off in my head. Looked like plod to me. I said that I had come about a driving job. He asked if I knew the boss. I said no. He told me to come in and he then asked the transport manager if he had seen me before. He said that I had come here earlier and that I used to work for Jeffrey before. He dropped me right in it. “Tell porkies, do we?” the copper said. " Sit over in the corner there and we’ll get round to you later. The place was swarming with customs officers who were putting all the paperwork into plastic bags. They were backed up with several policemen.
They let me go eventually as I was able to prove that I had been living in Sweden for the past number of years. I phoned Alvin up afterwards and he was able to fill me in with what was going down.
Doing Pakistan, eh??
Never did see Jeffrey again. Is he still about? What’s he up to these days?
I worked for Chapman and Ball until they began to fall apart in 1978.In the last month or two,Jenkinsons of Manchester appeared to be taking over the firm as it was obvious C & B were in trouble.
I was on for Jenkinsons,or thought I was,but after only doing one job with nothing looking permanent I left.
I was just about to start another job when i got a phone call from the original Traffic manager on C & B,Jack Corrie,
(who died only about 3 months ago).
Jeff Litwin had formed a partnership with Jack which was called Litcor International.Most of the original drivers were ex C & B.
Simon International was running after Litcor packed up and several of Litcor drivers continued to work for Jeff at SI.
I had transfered to SI after I was asked to fly out to Milan to collect a New F12 that Billy Big Wheels was driving,but he broke his ankle and was hopitalised.
Jeff had been up to Stoke and had bought a new depot,paid for with a suitcase full of cash I believe,and we were in the process of moving from one place up to the new depot when we were raided by the police and Customs.
SI had trailers with several logos on,I had a tilt with “Jeffeun Holdings” on many times while I was on Litcor.I also pulled the fridge that was in the name of “Hans Dinter”,who remembers that?
By that time most of the gear from the yard in Hackney had been dragged up to Stoke,we even had the old guard dog “Rinty”.
When that series “The duty men” came on the TV,I found it very interesting and fell about laughing when I saw Jeff getting fingered by the old bill,it was Jeff all over.
I must say though that Jeff was fine with me and a lot of us from up here,never did me a bad turn.
Litcor unit with a “Jeffeun Holdings” trailer,Thessalonika docks.
“Rinty”
Jeff Litwin is now running a company called Dockland Waste Management, based in E16, he’s still got photos of the old ME days on the wall in the office. Nowadays it’s skip/grab hire & bulkers to the landfill, he still likes a ‘full’ load on the bulkers, old habits die hard 
Ah! I got the John Corringham bit wrong. Thanks for filling in the gaps for me ‘bestbooties’ and thank you ‘newmercman’ for the info about Jeffrey.
I too never had a problem with Jeffrey. Mind you he was ‘inside’ for some of 1976 whilst I was working for him and his wife Maureen apparently used to visit him with a weekly report.
It was during that time when the drivers all got issued with Turkish insurance with a green card to cover other countries including Britain, arranged through Taji Kocman (spellng?) I think. It was an insurance issue that he was serving time for.
I was pulled up by the police at the top of Dover hill coming back on one trip. Getting the usual grief off them. They reckoned that this Turkish insurance was no good and that a British truck had to have insurance issued by a British company. I argued the point by saying that half the ships all over the world had insurance issued by Lloyds of London. Well that got them thinking and they let me continue my journey. I don’t know if I was right but it did the trick!
Another little story springs to mind. My mate Alvin and I had both loaded hazelnuts from Giresun on the Black Sea coast. We came back via Italy and France. When we got to Calais we phoned in to the office and we were told to get rid of our French and Italian permits in case the ministrymen were at the docks in Dover. So when we were on the boat we tore them up and threw them overboard (litterbugs!!). Sure enough, the ministry were there and checking permits. When they asked to see my French permit, I said that I didn’t have one. By this time they had Alvin and me together as we were pulling for the same firm. They asked where we had loaded from. We told them and they said , well you must have Italian permits as well? No, we didn’t have them either. Alvin said to them that it was our first time going this way and asked all innocently, “Have we done wrong?” The ministry man said “I think that you’ve done bloody well. Go on, clear off!!” We had a right laugh afterwards 
ron the name jeffeun holdings came from maureen jeffs wife,her cristian name was eunice which if i remember rightly she hated, lovely woman tho, that hans dinter fridge came by way of some money that was owed to jeff and in the two years i was there it only did a handfull of trips.
Interesting to learn about how Jeffeun holdings came about, germangeezer.
Here’s a few more pics:
Tahir
Truck wash after Tahir on way to Iran
And the drivers of those trucks (except mine as I’m taking the picture)
Mount Ararat viewed from Bazargan
Jeff sold docklands skips earlier this year. I know a few people who worked on there and he was quite a charachter by all accounts hand was still one of lifes duckers and divers after all these years.
kr79:
Jeff sold docklands skips earlier this year. I know a few people who worked on there and he was quite a charachter by all accounts hand was still one of lifes duckers and divers after all these years.
I wouldn’t have expected anything else from Jeffrey. A leopard never changes it’s spots, eh?
Is it time for another story? Blimey, I’m starting to sound like Max Bygraves!
Loaded for Jordan. Get down to Dover, hand in paperwork at customs. The GV 60 was in a clear plastic folder stapled up all around the edges. Customs man undoes all the staples and when he takes out the form, says that this is only a photocopy and he needs to see the original. Well, i know that ‘several’ of Simon’s trailers were “dubiously” obtained and that the GV 60s for these trailers were doctored from a pukka one. I told the customs man that as it was an important document, the boss likes to keep the original in the office. That didn’t cut any ice with him.
I phoned the office and Jeffrey said to wait for a change in shift. So when I re-submitted my paperwork at night time the new customs officer said “Ah, you’re the driver who we’re waitng to see the original of the GV 60”. So I then went to bed. Next morning I phoned in the bad news to the office. “Well you’ve got to ship out somehow!” was the response, as if it was my fault.
Anyway,I managed to think a way out. I got t forms made out for as far as Austria. That way, I didn’t need a GV 60. Customs weren’t happy and had the trailer onto the bank to check the load. There was nothing wrong with the load…it was the trailer that was the problem.
Got down to Spielfeld and started my TIR Carnet from there…no probs. Jeffrey was well happy.
This was in 1976 and I had a Transcon then and when I got to Ramtha, they told me that I could not bring this vehicle into the country. Something to do with Ford being on the Arab black list as Ford had a factory in Israel. (or something along those lines, anyway). They did eventually allow me to enter the country as I was able to prove that the engine was a ■■■■■■■ and not a ford. I discovered afterwards that the thing to do was to swap the “F” and the “D” over and call it a DORF.
Hi ron thanks for posting your tales and memories. I remember hearing the story about changing the lettering around on a Transcon but that was years ago, always thought it was one of those Middle East fables!!
When I had a Transcon on Brit European,having heard that some drivers had had problems at the Saudi border,my firm had the “Make” of truck on the triptych as a “Transcontinental”.
When I got to the border,the guy checking my triptychs asked what this truck was,a Transcontinental,as he’d never heard of it before.
As many times as I tried to explain it,he was not happy.In the end,he said,“Where’s your truck?”,I said ,“Just outside”.
He took a look outside and said,“Oh it’s a Ford,why didn’t you say so!”.No problem,straight in!.
bestbooties:
When I had a Transcon on Brit European,having heard that some drivers had had problems at the Saudi border,my firm had the “Make” of truck on the triptych as a “Transcontinental”.
When I got to the border,the guy checking my triptychs asked what this truck was,a Transcontinental,as he’d never heard of it before.
As many times as I tried to explain it,he was not happy.In the end,he said,“Where’s your truck?”,I said ,“Just outside”.
He took a look outside and said,“Oh it’s a Ford,why didn’t you say so!”.No problem,straight in!.
Wow! You had air con? Sheer luxury!! 
I took over the Transcon from another bloke who had had it from new. The registration was KME 15 P. After every trip away it got taken to Ford’s experimental facility at Hadleigh on the A13. It was apparently the first Transcon out of Britain to do middle east. All the servicing etc was done at Ford’s expense which, of course, was OK by Jeffrey. When I took it over I had to go to Hadleigh and be introduced to the ‘team’. I had to drive it round the test track with a Ford’s guy sat in the passenger seat. I think it was to make sure that I could drive it properly. 
Anyway, I was treated very well by them and I continued to take it back there after each trip where I had to give a report on it’s performance and they would fiddle about with it over the next few days while I went home. It had the larger 350 ■■■■■■■ engine in it and although it seemed like a powerful beast to me, it was a very thirsty girl giving a return of not much more than 4 miles to the gallon!! Not much good really when I was having to pay for my own diesel . Just as well that in those heady days, I wasn’t doing it just for the money… yes! yes! I admit it! I understand that they improved that fuel consumption in later models.
Waiting to load hazelnuts in Giresun
And here she is with a badly cracked winscreen. Jeffrey always thought that it was done by the turks throwing rocks at me and I let him believe that but I must admit that in reality I ran into the back of a Tonka in Istanbul which was loaded up and had some sort of overhanging steel fabrication on top. Lucky it didn’t come right the way through.
rondavies:
And here she is with a badly cracked winscreen. Jeffrey always thought that it was done by the turks throwing rocks at me and I let him believe that but I must admit that in reality I ran into the back of a Tonka in Istanbul which was loaded up and had some sort of overhanging steel fabrication on top. Lucky it didn’t come right the way through.
I am expecting a new member joining Trucknet any time soon named Jeff or ESAB and kicking your arse in public 
Wheel Nut:
rondavies:
And here she is with a badly cracked winscreen. Jeffrey always thought that it was done by the turks throwing rocks at me and I let him believe that but I must admit that in reality I ran into the back of a Tonka in Istanbul which was loaded up and had some sort of overhanging steel fabrication on top. Lucky it didn’t come right the way through.I am expecting a new member joining Trucknet any time soon named Jeff or ESAB and kicking your arse in public
GULP!!!